Discussion on EU-Turkey reference deferred until April (Updated)

A discussion at a technocratic level on the possibility of referring to EU-Turkey relations as part of EU Council conclusions has been deferred until April, it emerged on Friday.

The Cyprus News Agency reported that the discussions with Germany and a handful of other member states on the sidelines of Friday’s council meeting in Brussels were deferred. Sources told the agency that there was not enough time to complete the talks before the council meeting finished and that the next one would take place in April.

From the Cyprus side, the message being sent is that Euro-Turkish relations can evolve gradually depending on progress on the Cyprus issue without contradicting the so-called “positive agenda” that the EU has adopted when it comes to relations with Turkey.

Consultations had been underway with Germany for a possible reference, President Nikos Christodoulides said earlier on Friday.

Speaking on his way to the council summit, he said either the potential text would be included in the current conclusions or in the conclusions of the following summit in April.

He said there had been a meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the president of the EU Council Charles Michel at a technocratic level to discuss a possible text.

The Council had already included a reference to Cyprus’ humanitarian corridor for Gaza in the draft text, he continued.

Christodoulides said he considered it “particularly important […] that the effort of the Republic of Cyprus was recognised”, not only in the conclusions, but also in the interventions made during the discussion.

“All the heads of state welcomed our country’s initiative and I think this is a particularly positive development,” he added.

Christodoulides also referred to the meeting he had with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in Bruges. They discussed the next steps in the Cyprus issue and the president said it was hoped there would be developments in April “which will help to make it clear how close we are to a possible resumption of talks”.

“We know the difficulties, the problems, the challenges, but we also discussed the next, specific next steps and I hope that soon, within April, there will be some developments…developments which will help to see how close we are to resuming talks from where they were interrupted in Crans-Montana,” he said.